• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • About Us
    • Meet Our Talented Team
    • Anti-hate Speech Policy
  • Terms Of Service
  • Free Printables
  • Advertising
  • Contact Us

DIY Home & Garden

A DIY & Gardening Resource

  • Home Page
  • DIY Projects
    • Upcycling
  • Home
    • Cleaning and Organizing
    • Holidays
      • Christmas
      • Valentine’s Day
      • Easter
      • Fourth of July
      • Halloween
      • Thanksgiving
      • Memorial Day
      • Mother’s Day
    • Home Safety
    • Home Decor
    • Pets
    • Real Estate
  • Gardening
  • Herbal and Natural Wellness
  • Recipes
    • Baking
    • Breakfast
    • Salads
    • Venison Recipes
    • Home Canning and Preserving
      • Canning
      • Dehydrating
      • Freezer Recipes
  • Travel
Home » Planning Your First Water Garden
Planning Your First Water Garden

Planning Your First Water Garden

04/25/2019 By Deborah T

Love us? Share us!

Water gardens used to be out of reach for most gardeners because of the high cost and difficulty in using concrete – which is the primary material used in making ponds.

With the advent of newer and cheaper technologies (like PVC lining and fiberglass), water gardens are now as accessible as ever.

If you want to find out more information on how you can start your first water garden, read on.

Planning Stage

Choosing your site

There are three things to consider when picking a location for your water garden. The first is underground utilities. Before you start digging the plot, make sure that you will not be obstructing any pipes or cables. Second is sun exposure. Most aquatic plants need four to six hours of daily sunlight to grow properly. The third is the slope of the land to avoid rainwater runoff.

Sketch your plan

Visualizing your garden’s layout on paper is essential. It will help you in making estimates of the number of materials you need and in planning how and where to locate components of your design. It saves you time in the long run.

Select plants

Three kinds of plants should grow in your garden–floating, submerged and edge plants. Floating plants provide shade for the water. It keeps the pond clean by absorbing dissolved nutrients and suppressing the growth of algae. Examples of floating plants include water hyacinth, duckweed, and water lilies.

As the name suggests, submerged plants like hornwort or Sagittaria only grow beneath the water’s surface. They do not require soil or special fertilizer because they get their nutrients directly from the water through their stems and leaves. Edge plants flourish on the moist soil several inches below the surface. Filipendula, Japanese and Siberian irises are just some examples. They also provide shelter for fish, frogs, and other plant life.

Choose fish

Decide on the fish you’ll add once you complete your water garden. Adding a few varieties of fish can add fun and color to your water garden. Not only do they help keep the mosquito population at bay, but their waste can also be a source of nutrients for the plants.

Where permitted, goldfish are the best option for your pond. They’re relatively small (although some are known to grow up to a foot), less destructive, and don’t habitually eat plants. Koi fish are also a popular option, especially for Japanese-themed gardens. They’re large, colorful, and live longer. Keeping the balance between the plants and the fish is important. Too many can lead to algae blooms.

koi and turtle
Let your koi pond serve double duty by adding a turtle or two!


Preparing the Water Garden Site

Prepare equipment

If you plan to build a waterfall on the edge of your pond, you can install an entire system using Hunter irrigation parts to provide artificial pond irrigation. This helps prevent water stagnation that often attracts mosquitoes.

Start digging

A common mistake made by beginners when digging the plot is to start at the edge. When you do so, it will be hard to bring your wheelbarrow to where you’re digging. A more efficient way is to start digging at the center. Make sure to constantly check the depth of the pond and the evenness of the edges.

water garden pin
Want to find this blog post for future reference? Pin it!
Lining the pond

Before lining the pond, you have to put an underlayment first which is a felt like material that prevents sharp objects from puncturing the liner. When laying the liner, make sure to sufficiently cover the bottom, walls, and edges. Don’t worry too much about the pleats, they will be covered anyway when you start doing the landscaping around the edges.

Like any DIY project, the first few steps are always the hardest because it’s something you haven’t it tried before. Water gardens are no exception, but with a few tinkerings and help from your friends, you too can enjoy a small piece of paradise.

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Deborah T
Deborah T
Editor and author at DIY Home & Garden, a Word Innovations publication
Deborah Tayloe is a full-time blogger, children's book author, and freelance writer, contributing to large publications.

She has a B.S.Ed. in Secondary Education/English and a Spanish Minor. In addition, she holds a Certificate in Natural Health from a fully-accredited program and is a Certified Herbologist. She pursued these natural wellness certifications due to her love for herb gardening.

Despite freelancing to make a living, her love is "all things home."

Deborah grew up in a family that grew a large vegetable garden and a fruit orchard, helping her parents pull weeds and can home-grown foods as part of her childhood. In fact, she had no idea that she could purchase veggies and fruits in pre-packed steel cans until she went to college and made a food run.

Today, she lives in Bertie County, North Carolina, an agricultural rural area with more chickens than people. She lives with her husband and two rescue pets a sweet toy fox terrier and a cat who showed up one day and moved into the house. Together, they enjoy DIY projects, furniture refinishing, gardening, and canning.
Deborah T
Latest posts by Deborah T (see all)
  • The Explosive Truth of PYREX vs. pyrex - 08/15/2023
  • Viola, Violet, and Pansy: Close Relatives But Distinct Flowers - 08/11/2023
  • Purple D’Oro Daylily: A Regal Touch of Elegance - 08/10/2023
Tweet

Filed Under: Gardening Tagged With: garden, goldfish, koi, koi pond, water garden

About Deborah T

Deborah Tayloe is a full-time blogger, children's book author, and freelance writer, contributing to large publications.

She has a B.S.Ed. in Secondary Education/English and a Spanish Minor. In addition, she holds a Certificate in Natural Health from a fully-accredited program and is a Certified Herbologist. She pursued these natural wellness certifications due to her love for herb gardening.

Despite freelancing to make a living, her love is "all things home."

Deborah grew up in a family that grew a large vegetable garden and a fruit orchard, helping her parents pull weeds and can home-grown foods as part of her childhood. In fact, she had no idea that she could purchase veggies and fruits in pre-packed steel cans until she went to college and made a food run.

Today, she lives in Bertie County, North Carolina, an agricultural rural area with more chickens than people. She lives with her husband and two rescue pets a sweet toy fox terrier and a cat who showed up one day and moved into the house. Together, they enjoy DIY projects, furniture refinishing, gardening, and canning.

Primary Sidebar

Click for details on our latest travel deal

book vip cancun travel

Here’s Why You Should Plant Sunflowers in the Garden:

https://youtu.be/ZwvPDTbs9U0

You Won’t Even Notice You Tossed These Cluttery Things:

https://youtu.be/z16ZRMC4wbE

Don’t Suffer, Try This Bath to Soothe Itchy Skin:

https://youtu.be/SUxl9UL7QDw

Footer

Amazon Affiliate Disclaimer

DIY Home & Garden is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

DIY Home & Garden does not constitute or intend to provide medical, health, financial, legal, or other professional advice. This website is for entertainment purposes only.

Quick Links

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Terms Of Service
  • Contact Us

Copyright © 2023 · DIY Home & Garden

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in .

DIY Home & Garden
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.